The Phantom-Verse
by Ranay
Summary: After retaking the C.A.T, Danny is still unsure of what his future might hold and if that dark horror might still come to exist. Seems like the perfect time to see the Master of Time himself, Clockwork. But a simple search for an answer soon turns into a wild adventure as Danny and friends chase a freed Dan into not a different time, but a different universe! *Lots of AU!*
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hey all, this is my first fan-fiction so any and all reviews are greatly appreciated! Please enjoy ^.^**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

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"I can't believe they scheduled the make-up exam on a Saturday morning," Danny yawned, pulling his arms above him in a stretch, "The only good thing about this week was the distinct lack of ghostly activity allowing me to study for the C.A.T. in peace."

"For all our sakes, I hope you did well," Tucker mumbled and an unnatural silence fell over the group. It was meant as a joke but the horrors from last week were still fresh in their minds.

"Anyways…" Sam's voice eventually broke the awkward silence, "what do you plan on doing now, Danny? It's only twelve and as you said, there have been no ghosts around lately."

"Yeah but with my luck I'll have Skulker and the Box Ghost knocking at my door by one," Danny chuckled before an idea struck him and serious look of determination crossed over him, "I'm going to see Clockwork."

Half an hour later, the trio of friends stood in front of the swirling green vortex which provided access to the mysterious Ghost Zone. Danny looked over the hand-drawn map in his hands before nodding and stuffing it into his pockets. A ring of light encircled his waist and split, traveling up and down his body, transforming 'ordinary' Danny Fenton into the infamous hero Danny Phantom. Coal black hair and baby blue eyes shifted to a snowy white and glowing green. His white t-shirt and blue jeans were replaced by a sleek black jumpsuit with white boots, gloves, and accents. A ghostly white aura emanated from his body which now floated several inches off the ground. Sam and Tucker, long since accustomed to their friends' unique abilities, merely looked on with disapproval.

"Are you sure about this, Danny?" the young Goth asked, "I mean the last time we saw this guy he was giving you quite the bashing."

Danny rubbed his head, as if remembering the pain the Ghost of Time had inflicted during one of their first meetings. "He only did that to prove a point and force me to change my own future. It's not like he enjoys beating me up."

"Skulktech 9.9," Sam reminded him with a smirk.

"Boxlunch," Tucker offered and the three paused to share an 'ew' at the mention of the future offspring of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady.

"That's beside the point. I'm going to see Clockwork whether you join me or not." He flew into the portal rather hastily, as if to prove his point, leaving Sam and Tucker to shake their heads in disappointment. Sometimes it was hard to remember this teenager was also an inspiring hero.

"Come on, we better go after him," Sam finally sighed, heading for the Spector Speeder. She was surprised Danny's parents never noticed when the rather large vehicle went missing although these were the same ghost hunters who failed to realize their own son was half-ghost.

Tucker took the wheel and guided the Specter Speeder through the portal, steel walls of the Fenton's basement soon replaced by the swirling green and black void of the Ghost Zone. Numerous doors floated all around them, each one an entrance to a different ghost's lair, not all of them friendly. Ahead of them, a familiar white-haired ghost boy floated a map in his hands and a perplexed expression on his face. As the Speeder came closer, they could hear him mumbling loudly to himself.

"Was it a right at Skulker's Island or a left at Fright Knight's Castle? Perhaps it was past this Swirling Vortex of Infinite Pain-oh, that's a thumbprint…"

"Need some help, ghost boy?" Sam called out from the open back of the Speeder. She tossed him a pair of Fenton phones, Danny fumbling to catch the small communication device.

"I thought you guys weren't going to come." Danny floated closer to them and though he tried to hide it, the relief in his expression was evident.

"As if we would miss a chance to tell you 'told you so'," Tucker jokingly replied, earning himself a glowing green glare, "And I uploaded our current map into the Specter Speeder's GPS system so we don't end up in some Swirling Vortex of Infinite Pain."  
Danny sighed as his friends laughed at his expense, but a smile soon found its way on his face as well. Tucker started up the Specter Speeder and Danny was more than happy to follow along behind, acting as a lookout rather than an escort for once. Only Kempler dared to interrupt the their journey and after a long roundabout conversation about not wanting to be his friend, the trio soon made it past the annoying ghost to the looming fortress of Clockwork's domain. It was time to pay the Master of Time a visit.

"So what happens if he's not here or he doesn't let you in?" Tucker's simple question quickly snuffed out the determination fueling Danny's actions only moments ago. His already pale face managed to blanch even further as he hung his head in embarrassment.

"Well he is the Master of Time so he probably already knows we're coming," Danny replied hesitantly, trying to maintain his cool composure. Lucky for him, the gates to Clockwork's fortress were wide open and inviting when they arrived.

"Seems like he's expecting us," Sam muttered darkly, still not completely trusting this powerful ghost. Danny ignored her and continued on inside where he found himself in a long hallway with numerous doors on each side. He went to each door and was surprised to find them all locked except for one. After a reassuring glance at his friends he slipped inside. Small portals dotted the walls of the room, each depicting various events in the time stream: past, present, and future. Danny thought he caught glimpses of himself among them but when he went to investigate the scene had already shifted.

"So where is Clockwork exactly?" Tucker asked, not seeing the ghost anywhere, "And what's this thing?"

"Tucker, put that down." Danny's voice had taken on a darker tone as soon as he caught sight of the all too familiar thermos in his friend's hand. Tucker and Sam did not remember Danny's final battle with _him_ due to Clockwork's time reversal and he was not willing to share those events quite yet. How could he when he had nearly lost them that day? Tucker seemed to pick up on Danny's distress because he carefully set the thermos back where he found it.

"Hey look, remember these things!" The techno geek's attention span rivaled that of a goldfish as he completely forgot about the thermos in light of his new discovery. He now held up a gear-shaped medallion with a strange blue rune in the middle- Clockwork's Time Medallions.

"What do you think you're doing?" Sam asked, watching him stuff quite a few of the emblems into his pockets and one around his neck.

"The last time I got a hold of one of these I found some pretty advanced tech in it. I'm sure Clockwork won't mind if I take a few to study if he is the great guy Danny claims he is," Tucker explained before throwing one to Sam, "Put that on, you never know if you might need it around here."

The Goth gave a small note of disapproval at the bright colors of the medallion but slid it onto her neck as well. Tucker tossed one to Danny, but managed to miss him by quite a few feet. Time seemed slow as they watched the glittering artifact fly through the air, straight for a certain thermos. A sharp _clang_ echoed through the room as it hit the side of the thermos causing the Fenton device to fall roughly to the ground. Nobody moved a muscle as they waited in silent horror for the inevitable. After a few moments of nothing happening, Danny let out the breath he had been holding in relief. He was about to walk towards the thermos when the small contraption began to rattle violently. The trio wore the same expression of absolute shock as the thermos exploded, releasing the prisoner sealed inside.

The dark chuckle sent a shiver of fear through the normally unwavering trio. "Well, well, well. Long time no see."


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Sorry for what I know was probably a slow start, here is the second chapter with some action and the first of many universes our heroes will find themselves in. Please read, enjoy, and review if you so desire!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.**

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They were having a nightmare, surely y they were in some sort of twisted dream was all the three could think as they gazed at the dark haunt they hoped to never see again. A mane of fiery white hair flickered wildly above its sneering green face. Two blazing red orbs glared down at the group, eyes filed with a burning hatred and malice. And upon its black and white jumpsuit, as if silently mocking the young hero, the Danny Phantom logo shined brightly. Dan Phantom, what had once been the dark future of Danny Phantom, was free.

"We meet again, younger me, and without those accursed inventions to help you beating you will be a - ack!" Dan cried out in pain and fell to the ground, unable to maintain his power of flight. With the powerful enemy clearly suffering, the three were able to find the words that had escaped them before.

"Is it just me or does he look…weaker?" Sam asked.

"Maybe it's because…no, that's ridiculous," Tucker was mumbling to himself.

"Spit it out, Tuck," Danny instructed his friend, "What do you think is going on?"

"Well when you beat _him_ ," he pointed at the groaning ghost on the floor, "you eliminated him from your future."

At Sam and Danny's blank stares the boy sighed and continued. "Theoretically, he doesn't exist in this reality and therefore can't exist in this reality. The only reason he was still here before was because he was in the thermos."

"So he's fading away?" Sam gasped, her violet gaze turning towards Dan who was now breathing heavily due to some unforeseen pain. The evil rendition of Danny's future looked up at the teenagers, his eyes narrowing in anger at them before flicking to the nearby portals. A wide grin split his features and the ghost suddenly didn't seem as weak as before.

"If I can't exist in this reality," he began to push himself to his feet, "then I'll just find a reality where I can exist!" Dan forced his body into a flight as he hurled himself into the nearest portal before anyone could react. A few seconds passed before the realization of what had just happened finally sunk in.

"Did he just say 'reality' as in a different reality?" Sam's pondering was ignored by the boys who were having a minor meltdown.

"If I didn't have such bad aim…I am so sorry Danny," Tucker was saying while Danny was screaming, "This is bad. This is really bad. We have to go after him!"

Sam pinched the bridge of her nose between two fingers and let out a long sigh. Sometimes it felt like she was the only level headed one of the group. The Goth picked up the medallion Tucker had thrown earlier and tossed it to the panicked ghost boy, who managed to catch it this time.

"Put that on, ghost boy, we're going after him, or would you like to stay here and freak out some more?" Danny and Tucker fell silent, hanging their heads in shame as if she were a mother scolding her children. "Oh and change back, Danny, we don't know if ghosts exist in other realities."

"Are you saying you actually believe that those are portals to other realities?"

Sam raised an eyebrow and let her eyes slide from Danny to the ground and back, pointing out the fact that he was floating several feet from the ground. "Danny one thing I have learned these past months is that nothing is impossible."

Accepting her reasoning, Danny floated back to the ground and transformed back into Danny Fenton. After making sure everyone was wearing a time medallion, he led them through the portal Dan had taken only moments ago.

"Spooky, distract Skulker. I'll deal with Ember first." The voice sounded extremely familiar to Danny, but he couldn't quite place it, not with the persistent pounding in his head. After traveling through the portal in Clockwork's tower, they found themselves thrust none too softly out the other side onto rough pavement.

"You want to make it a one-on-one, dipstick? Fine by me!" Tucker's groaning beside Danny drowned out Ember's voice and slowly he cracked his eyes open. The scene before him was a strange one, to say the least.

Skulker hovered high in the air above him, waving his hands wildly as he tried to keep a snow white owl away from his face. The bird seemed to be toying with 'Ghost Zone's greatest hunter' as it managed to make the mechanical ghost smack himself in the face a couple of times while trying to grab the bird. A few yards away, Ember was blasting ghost rays from her guitar at a guy on a sleek black motorcycle. Danny couldn't help but admire the man's style in carrying out his heroic duty. The man wore a long black trench coat that billowed out behind him as he performed numerous tricks on his bike to dodge the deadly rays. Every time he revved up the motorcycle's engine, a glowing green liquid flowed from the along the body that Danny swore was ectoplasm. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about this man; however, was the pure white mask he wore over his face, making him seem more like a ghost than the ghosts themselves.

"Ouch, that hurt. Hey, Danny where's-"Danny smacked his hand over his friends mouth, not wanting Tucker to draw attention to themselves. He gestured for the boy to simply watch and not speak before removing his hand. If Danny had not been so enamored by the fight, he might have wondered why Sam hadn't said anything yet, but he currently had eyes only for the mysterious guy on the motorcycle.

"What's wrong, dipstick, don't like my music?" Ember laughed as she blasted yet another ghost ray at the masked man. He easily dodged the attack on his bike and pointed a thermos Danny had grown familiar with over the past few months at the rock star ghost. She screamed in pure anger as a blue beam of shot out of the device and sucked her inside. The man turned his masked face on his next target, Skulker still having trouble with the small owl pecking at his armor.

"Good job, Spooky, now let's give Ember some company, shall we?" Skulker barely had enough time to recover from the bird's attacks before he joined Ember in the thermos. The man slammed the lid on as soon as the ghost was secured inside and the owl flew to him, perching itself on his shoulder.

"Alright, Spooky, it's about time we got back to Sam and Uncle Vlad."

"Uncle Vlad!" Danny had jumped up, the whole not drawing attention plan failing miserably, "As in Vlad Masters?"

What next came out of the masked man's mouth surprised Danny and Tucker. "Suffering spooks! Who are you two?" The little owl on his shoulder let out a disgruntled shriek at his outburst before hiding his head beneath his wings and falling asleep.

"Suffering spooks? Doesn't your dad say that Danny?" Tucker whispered to his friend, who gave a small nod, his brow furrowed in deep thought.

"Wait a minute, if this really is another reality then…" Danny pointed at the masked man, his eyes wide with wonder, "you must be Danny Phantom!"


End file.
